June 1, 2010 - Week 42

Hello Everyone,

Wow! There has been so much that has happened in this past week. It was probably one of the busiest and most stressful of my entire mission. First we had President Belnap come down from Dayton to interview Trisha and Destiny. Everything went great. It was good to be able to talk to President afterwards. He took us out to lunch. He said that what we have done with this area is amazing. He said that we need to always remember that there have been miracles in this town and we should never forget them. I got a picture with him. He now only has about 4 weeks left in the mission. It is so weird to me that he is finally leaving. It seems like he has been such a large part of my mission, but I will actually have President Greere for longer than I had President Belnap. I will miss him a lot though.

On Saturday Dayton had their annual Dayton Days Parade. The police officer who was leading out the parade is in our ward so we got to ride in the cop car with him and we threw out toy badges to everyone and bracelets. It was way fun. We saw so many people that we know. I think everyone was confused to look into the cop car and see two missionaries. Later that night we had Trisha and Destiny's baptism. It was decided that I would baptize Trisha (the mom) and confirm Destiny (the daughter). Elder Buchanan baptized Destiny and confirmed Trisha. So the whole night goes great and the spirit is really strong. We go to baptize both of them and Destiny goes first with Elder Buchanan. It goes great. Then it is my turn to baptize Trisha. She was really, really nervous. She steps down into the font with me and I go to baptize. Just as I’m dunking her in the water, an arm shoots out and grabs my shoulder. I bring her back up and she struggles to get up. Elder Buchanan jumps down and helps me support her. We talk to her and we do it again. Her arm shoots out of the water again! This next time, the 3rd time baptizing her, I have her put her arm right by my hand. Elder Buchanan gets on the other side. As I am bringing her down into the water, Buchanan grabs her wrist and shoves it into the water. Other than that it was a great night. Trisha and Destiny are doing fantastic.

Also this week we found out on Wednesday that the speakers for sacrament meeting cancelled and we got a call asking us if we would speak in sacrament this Sunday. We asked who was speaking with us and they said no one. So we had to speak for 20 minutes again. We worked hard on it though and the talk actually went really well. I will send it to you. That same Sunday we had a member fireside called, "Be the Investigator." It was so members can understand how investigators feel as they are going through the process and how they can help them and fellowship them. It went really well. We had a good discussion and it actually helped us more than it helped the ward. It worked out great. So that is why this was one of the most stressful weeks of my mission. President Belnap visit, 20 minute talk, baptism, fireside. Oh and to top it off, it we got our transfer calls this week.

I am sad to say that Elder Buchanan is finally leaving Dayton. He has been in this area for 7 1/2 months! We all pretty much knew that this was going to happen but nobody wanted it to. I am getting Elder Wagner. I have met Elder Wagner before at a zone conference. He has been out for 21 months so he is really close to being done with his mission. Everyone thinks that he will end his mission in Dayton now. I have no idea what is going to happen with me. By next transfer we will have a new Mission President. If I stay with Wagner another transfer after this one then he would go home and I could possibly stay another transfer to train someone to the area. That would be 7 1/2 months in Dayton for me too! Ah well, I don't know what is going to happen. I will miss Buchanan. He is going clear over to the other side of the mission in Longview. I'm sure that we will see each other again. We were a great team. We had 5 baptisms together. Pretty cool huh. He will do good where ever he goes.

Well I think that’s about it for me. Grandma, I got your package and I haven't opened anything yet since you wrapped them. I figured that I'm supposed to wait. Mom my pant size is 32x34 just to let you know. I tried to send a letter to you guys, but I waited too long. Sorry it will go out today and it is completely outdated because I just updated you on everything in this email haha. I told Pete Happy Birthday in my letter, but obviously it didn't go out. So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETE! Hope you had a good one. I will talk to you all next week and let you know how everything is going. Take care and I love you all.

Love,
Elder Garrick